Mechanical pointing device



Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. DANCE 2,614,412

MECHANICAL POINTING DEVICE Filed July 28, 1950 W FIG. 3

' INVENTOR WILL/AM H. DANCE g a r W A TTVS Patented Oct. 21, 1952 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE MECHANICAL POINTING DEVICE William H. Dance,Cambridge, Mass., assignor to James 0. Dance, Cambridge, Mass.

Application July 28, 1950, Serial No. 176,303

. 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a mechanism for inserting mortar in seamsbetween bricks, concrete blocks, or the like after such bricks or blockshave been laid in courses without mortar. It can also be used to pointup the mortar in a brick wall or the like from which portions of themortar have been dislodged. It is an object of the invention to providea mechanism by which mortar can be rapidly and neatly applied tohorizontal or vertical seams. The invention consists essentially of ahopper which has a narrow elongated spout at the lower end thereof andwhich is pivotally attached to a portable frame. This frame also carriesmechanism by which the spout is rapidly vibrated with oscillations ofsmall magnitude so as to push the mortar which flows through the spoutinto the crack or seam opposite which the spout is held by the operator.Any convenient mechanism for vibrating the spout may be employed.According to the present invention, the frame carries a small electricmotor which is adapted to revolve at high speed and to rotate a camhaving eccentric edge portions. A cam follower is pressed against thecam by a suitable spring and the follower is operatively connected tothe hopper so as to rock the hopper rapidly through oscillations ofsmall amplitude.

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be hadto the following description of an embodiment thereof and to thedrawing, of which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of apparatus embodyingthe invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2, on a largerscale; and

, Figure 4 is a section on the line 4--'4 of Figure 3.

A mechanical pointing device is illustrated on the drawing, comprising ahopper tapers downward to a narrow elongated spout I2 at the lower endthereof. The spout is preferably curved forward and has an orifice whichopens toward the front for the ejection of mortar forward therefrom inan approximately horizontal direction. A forwardly projecting lip I4 isprovided immediately below the orifice of the spout to guide the mortaras it is ejected from the spout as hereinafter described. The hopper Iis pivotally attached as at I6 near its upper end to a portable frame 20so as to be rockable about the axis of the pivot I6. Near the lower endof the hopper are a pair of ears 22 which project from the rear wall andare pivotally attached to a link 24. This link extends rearward I 0whichl 2 1y from the spout and carries near its further end a camfollower 2B which is pressed against the surface of a cam 30 by asuitable spring 32 which is compressed between a portion of the ink 24and a part 34 of the frame 20.

The cam 30 may be of any desired shape hav ing high and low portions soas to cause reciproeating movements of the cam follower 26 when the camis rotated. As shown in Figure 3, the cam may have two eccentric arcuatesurface portions with high points 36. Rotation of the cam causes thecamfollower 26 to move toward the right until it rides off the next highpoint 36 whereupon the spring 32 pushes it quickly to the adjacent lowportion-of the cam. Since the cam follower 26 is connected by the link24 to the lower portion of the hopper In, these movements of the camfollower result in similar reciprocating movements of the spout I2 butwith slightly greater amplitude owing to the vertical distance betweenthe ears 22 and the orifice of the spout I2. Owing to the arrangement ofthe cam, cam follower and spring, as shown in Figure 3, rearwardmovements of the spout away from a wall to which mortar is being appliedare positive, but

forward movements of the spout toward the wall are yielding, suchmovements being produced by spring pressure. This minimizes thepossibility of injury to the spout from actual contact with a wall whenthe device is operating.

The cam is mounted on a shaft 40 which is connected to and driven by anelectric motor 42, the motor being conveniently mounted on the frame 20.The motor is designed to run at a fairly high speed, that is, betweenone thousand and two thousand R. P. M. Since the cam 30 illustrated inFigure 3 has two high points, the spout I2 will be oscillated twice asfast as the rotor of the motor 42 revolves. The effect of theoscillation of the spout I2 is to eject a stream of mortar from thespout, this mortar being pushed well into the cracks between courses ofbricks or concrete blocks when the apparatus is held so that the spoutis directly opposite such seam or crack. As the spout vibrates towardand from the seam, each forward movement of the spout impels forward thesmall amount of mortar which is on a level with the orifice. The camimmedi ately jerks the spout back to quickly to overcome the forwardmomentum of the mortar at the orifice. A small amount of mortar is inthis manner caused to protrude from the orifice. Since thesesreciprocating movements are rapid, the cumulative effect thereof is theissuance of a steady stream of mortar from the orifice, the

rapid impulses appearing to act through the stream itself to produce atamping action which completely fills the seam or crack between coursesof bricks or blocks if a proper rate of advance along the seam ismaintained. Cavitation within the hopper and spout is also prevented bythe vibratory movements.

I claim:

1. A portable pointing device comprising a frame, a hopper pivotallyattached near its upper end to said frame, said hopper tapering to aspout at its lower end with a forwardly opening orifice at said lowerend, a lip projecting forward from immediately below said orifice, andmeans connected to said spout for rapidly rocking said hopper in a frontand rear direction, whereby said spout and lip will directmortarapproximately horizontally from said orifice and tamp the same ina mortar groove, said rocking means including a motor-driven shaftmounted on said frame, a cam having relatively high antllow portionsmounted'on said. shaft'to rotate therewith, a link connected atone endto said spout and extending rearwardly therefrom, a cam follower carriedby the other end of saidlink, and spring means re WILLIAM H. DANCE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,142,022 Chappell June 8, 19151,652,434 George et a1 Dec. 13, 1927 1,973,885 Rasmussen Sept. 18, 1934FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 123,498 Austria Feb. 15, 1931

